Cleveland Affiliate Disses NBC Primetime With 21-Year-Old ‘Matlock’ Movie — And Will Do It Again

It hasn’t been the best week for NBC, which just found out that for the first time in network history it finished fifth behind Spanish-language Univision in the just completed February sweep. Even Jay Leno bashed his network during his Tonight Show monologue last night, rattling off a string of jokes at his bosses’ expense (example: “NBC is doing so badly we don’t have reruns anymore because nobody saw the shows the first time”). Now comes word that the network’s Cleveland affiliate WKYC-TV bumped last night’s scheduled repeats of The Office and Law & Order: SVU, as well as a new 1600 Penn (ouch), for a two-hour Matlock movie that originally aired in 1992. It’s doing it again to the struggling Thursday lineup on March 7 for another Matlock movie.

Station president/general manager Brooke Spectorsky told Broadcasting & Cable that the move was “about maximizing station inventory” and had nothing to do with NBC’s primetime performance, and that originally the station thought 1600 Penn was going to be a repeat. WKYC, which has played the Matlock card before, is banishing NBC’s primetime lineup to a 1 AM Saturday start both weekends.

59 Comments

TV Fan • on Mar 1, 2013 2:14 pm

Matlock is one bad ass dude.
And so is that station president in Cleveland.

Julie • on Mar 1, 2013 2:14 pm

Wow. Hollywood is an embarrassment. How about a little more quality and a little less “cause.” You’re in the entertainment business, sack up and fucking entertain someone, will you? No one wants to hear your bullshit about changing the world. You crank out pure bullshit. Face it and make it better.

Matt • on Mar 1, 2013 2:14 pm

I agree 100 percent. The crap on TV is amazingly low quality horseshit. It if ain’t promoting someone’s agenda, it ain’t TV. For the working man or woman to come home and enjoy a good show is very rare… so few of them available. It really is pathetic. Let’s move away from the JJ Abrams 1-in-5 shows are good format, Ryan Murphy’s utter bullshit garbage, and get some real writing and acting going. It really is a disgrace right now.

Joe Gillis • on Mar 1, 2013 2:14 pm

Ummm… you do understand that “Hollywood” made Matlock too, right?

Julie • on Mar 1, 2013 2:14 pm

He wrote “right now.” Read, will you. Matlock was written ages ago when TV was good. Today’s TV is recycled piss, even the writers on current shows know this.

Miffy • on Mar 1, 2013 2:14 pm

Except for when Andy Griffith produced the show out of Atlanta.

jack sprat • on Mar 1, 2013 2:14 pm

Their failure is especially sweet, because NBC has so long gone out of its way to be the most partisan propagandists this side of whoever is writing the scripts in North Korea.

I had to giggle at the notion of “Matlock” beating Kimmel’s post-Oscar show among MEN 25-54 in Cleveland. I was under the impression that no man under 65 watched it when it was first run. Even I never did and I loved Andy Griffith growing up.

peacock • on Mar 1, 2013 2:14 pm

Priceless! You can’t make this sh*t up! The NBC brass has to change.

Duke Mid-Nite • on Mar 1, 2013 2:14 pm

So would you say the NBC Thursday night line up is NOT in Cleveland?

Thank you very much.

Justin • on Mar 1, 2013 2:14 pm

Did you mean to add the word “Hot”?

Sean M • on Mar 1, 2013 2:14 pm

yeah, I don’t think he did. see, the thursday night lineup was “not” in cleveland because they showed a matlock movie instead. it’s not all that funny. and a bit of thinker. you must be a fan of the CBS comedies : )

Morbs • on Mar 1, 2013 2:14 pm

Not Hot in Cleveland would have been better because who even remembers that show exists unless it is specifically namechecked.

I did • on Mar 1, 2013 2:14 pm

I did!

Promo guy • on Mar 1, 2013 2:14 pm

Try the veal.

GF • on Mar 1, 2013 2:14 pm

“21-year-old Matlock”??? Come on, Deadline, I think we all know that Matlock is timeless. Let’s not write things we can’t take back.

bounder • on Mar 1, 2013 2:14 pm

Hahahahahahahahaha

Gary • on Mar 1, 2013 2:14 pm

Watch out WKYC. When NBC’s San Francisco affiliate KRON switched local news from 11 to 10. NBC cancelled their affiliation and gave their San Jose affiliate the whole Bay Area. Even if NBC doesn’t have the power it used to KRON went from 1st to near last in broadcast ratings.

will • on Mar 1, 2013 2:14 pm

The NBC affiliation change in the Bay Area had nothing to do with the scheduling of local newscasts. It had everything to do with NBC and Young locking swords over the purchase of KRON and subsequent haggling over the terms of the affiliation renewal.

Myron Falwell • on Mar 1, 2013 2:14 pm

The irony is that WKYC was once owned by NBC throughout the 60s, 70s and 80s. They sold it off because – at the time – they treated the station as an afterthought, and consequently, WKYC was the lowest rated among all the NBC affiliates. Most famously, Al Roker made his mark at WKYC before being promoted to WNBC-TV.

KRON lost their NBC affiliation because 1) NBC wanted to buy KRON, and when they lost the bidding to Young Broadcasting, threw all sorts of demands to Young that were unattainable, and 2) a rimshot station in San Jose was available to purchase for NBC as a means to exact swift punishment to KRON.

Elliot • on Mar 1, 2013 2:14 pm

Must Flee TV!! (not mine but worth repeating).

Joel • on Mar 1, 2013 2:14 pm

Honestly, I wouldn’t mind watching a “Matlock” reboot with the 21 year old grandson of the Ben Matlock…

Sparky • on Mar 1, 2013 2:14 pm

That’s actually (a) not a bad idea and (b) more appealing that most of the broadcast network’s offerings.

I think Jon Lovett from 1600 Penn will be available soon if you want a 3rd EP.

Anonymous • on Mar 1, 2013 2:14 pm

That would defeat the purpose of Matlock. The hook was that he was an OLD country boy. It has to be an old dude with Andy Griffith’s charm. Good luck finding that.

Felix • on Mar 1, 2013 2:14 pm

Living in Cleveland, WKYC has been doing this for YEARS. This is news because…?

Morbs • on Mar 1, 2013 2:14 pm

They have? I’m in Cleveland too and have never noticed, what days do they usually do it? And it’s news because originally the GM said he was doing it because he wanted the advertisers to get what they paid for and then backtracked.

Funnier • on Mar 1, 2013 2:14 pm

Mattlock is funnier than 1600 Penn.

DK • on Mar 1, 2013 2:14 pm

My last root canal was funnier than 1600 Penn.

Spandex • on Mar 1, 2013 2:14 pm

Kind of shows how out of touch TV execs are when a bad ass show like Matlock outpaces its broadcast competition. Screw the market research BS, broadcast networks don’t know what they’re doing.

Brice • on Mar 1, 2013 2:14 pm

Wow. I bet a lot of execs at NBC lose their jobs after this…

Chris • on Mar 1, 2013 2:14 pm

I wish our affiliate would do this. Hell,if they could put the original Cosby show and Different World back on I’d be locked in

Stu • on Mar 1, 2013 2:14 pm

Don’t know what’s more embarrassing that Cleveland bumped NBC primetime for Matlock or the Leno “joke” you quoted.

Foad • on Mar 1, 2013 2:14 pm

I literally get nauseous watching NBC programming. Sure, one reason is the years of crappy programming, but it’s also the sickening commercials of their leftist news talent and whatever left wing agenda theme they have for the week like ‘green week’. I can’t think of any scripted shows I would watch from NBC, but at best I would DVR it. Even their NFL games I start with at least a half hour cushion to fast forward through their promos and also switch the channel during their halftime show, because of annoying botox Bob Costas. I use that time to build up more time to fast forward through the second half promos.

I don’t blame that Cleveland affiliate for putting on something different. They know for sure that reruns of fifth place programming is going to get even worse ratings.

Shemp Howard • on Mar 1, 2013 2:14 pm

This is great and a lot of other affiliates will start pulling network shows to air what they think will work best in their local markets. NBC can threaten them all they want but if enough affiliates start doing this heads will roll at NBC as they should.

will • on Mar 1, 2013 2:14 pm

Even a fifth-place network is better than no network at all. Affiliates preempt network programming at their peril. Indies also have zero leverage with cable and satellite over retransmission fees.

Anonymous • on Mar 1, 2013 2:14 pm

A late night talk show host making fun of his network? Low class. Johnny Carson never would have sunk so low.

I’ve been expecting a mass rebellion of some kind by NBC affiliates in major markets for some time now, never thought Cleveland would get the party started but I’m sure this is only a small preview of what’s to come. The current major network model is obsolete and I look forward to the day when Comcast initiates the new era of NBC (and broadcast television as a whole) by eliminating their original scripted programming model for a independent, more creative, artist-centric first-run syndication model. I know, sounds unrealistic, but I’m almost 100% positive that it will happen, and it will happen soon!

Zeke • on Mar 1, 2013 2:14 pm

Folks, that is how truly bad NBC’s primetime lineups have been the last few years time…Zucker and Silverman started the road of destruction over there a few years ago and Greenbladt and Salke are about to insert the final nail into the coffin of their network. Time to clean house yet again at Nothing But Crap!